Lesbian Legislation (And Gay)

In the second half of the 20th century, there were many legislative efforts on both sides of the LGBT movement. There were also many medical breakthroughs concerning the discovery of AIDS. Originally called Gay-Related Immune Deficiency (GRIDS), many cases of similar symptoms were reported in New York City, near Stonewall Inn and Greenwich Village, Los Angelos, and San Francisco, near Castro. Due to how it was predominantly in gay men, it was considered "gay cancer". While now there are a cocktail of various medicines to delay the contraction of AIDS and the deaths, there were still a devastating amount of deaths in the gay community before any sort of medicines were discovered. Once AZT, the main medicine used to combat AIDS, was created, there was much rioting before the FDA in order to create lower, more affordable priced medicine instead of the high priced AZT that would take ten thousand dollars to purchase a year supply of. Inspired by the declining number of gay men in certain communities, activists took to the legislation.
In 1982, Wisconsin was the first state to ever pass a law stating that it was illegal to have a bias in housing, employment, and public accommodations based on sexual orientation. Then, in an even larger step, in 1990 the law was repealed that stated that homosexuals from other countries could not immigrate to America, though it still had restrictions on homosexuals with AIDS who were hoping to immigrate. Then in 1995, Clinton went a step further and made an executive order stating that it was unconstitutional to deny federal clearance on the basis of sexual orientation.
However, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. There were many legislations that were passed that set the gay rights movement back several years. In 1986, the Supreme Court deemed it constitutional to prohibit and punish those who participate in acts of sodomy by order of the law. Then in 1993, the newly controversial "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" legislation was passed with an overwhelming majority in Congress. In 1996, Clinton took a step back from his executive order in 1995 and passed the Defense of Marriage Act, stating that it was within the states legal rights to decide if marriage can officially include same sex marriages.
The media was often split on which side to take in this situation, for they would always want to choose those who were winning. There were steps in the forward direction for the rights of homosexuals, though they kept being pushed backwards by those who were homophobic. Homosexuals gained much support and attention for their peaceful activism, but the opposition would always try to scream louder so that their voices may not be heard.